"It’s a very dangerous situation because the Russian government is involved in trying to stabilize the situation and bring about some type of political solution. But the US, Israel and its allies are definitely committed to bring about regime change in Syria.”

A political commentator says the United States, the Israeli regime and their allies are seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad despite international calls for a political resolution to the unrest in Syria.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country. Reports say a very large number of militants in Syria are foreign nationals.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, a political commentator and editor of the Pan-African News Wire from Detroit, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The situation in Syria is quite complex, to say the least, with the addition and further evidence mounting regarding foreign involvement in this situation - specifically with regards to the insurgents - does raise a lot of eyebrows with regards to those people who say that this is a genuine uprising of the Syrian people.

Azikiwe: Yes. I think this is a serious escalation of the struggle inside of Syria. It exposes the role of foreign mercenary elements inside the country that are of course attempting to destabilize and even overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

These clashes that have been taking place in Tripoli, Lebanon, are taking place between militias that claim to be against the Syrian government. They are attacking those who are allies of the government in Damascus.

Just since this past Tuesday, 19 people have been killed in this fighting. These clashes of course are being instigated by outside forces that are committed, alongside the United States government, the Israeli government and their allies in the Persian Gulf region, to bring down the Syrian government.

This is also taking place in conjunction with the false claims being made by the presidency here in the United States of chemical weapons caches that could be used inside the country.

This is taking place also in conjunction with the deployment of Patriot missiles along the border with Turkey which is also a member of NATO.

It’s a very similar scenario with regard to the situation involving Iraq where the false claims of weapons of mass destruction led to a nine-year occupation of that country.

Press TV: Indeed, but when we have reports such as the one like this where we see that people from other countries, not just Syria, are taking part in this armed insurgency in the country, it does give rise to questions regarding the stability of the whole region.

We’re already seeing spillover effects in Turkey with regard to PKK militants and now also in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, where we have seen clashes and deaths that have occurred with regard to the situation in Syria.

It does go to show that governments that are supporting this insurgency need to pause and take a look and assess the situation a bit further, now doesn’t it?

Azikiwe: Yes, but I think it’s a reflection of the fact that the efforts to bring down the Syrian government have been largely a failure, although there’s been a tremendous amount of destruction. In fact, in Syria, many people have died over the last 19 to 20 months.

At the same time, they have not been able to shake substantially the resolve of the Syrian government to fight off these terrorists who are attempting to violently overthrow the government.

Of course there’s an international conspiracy, if you will. You have the United States government which was involved in a situation several weeks ago where they actually reorganized the Syrian armed opposition. They have indirectly been funding as well as arming these groups.

Of course we have to look at the role of NATO with the deployment of these Patriot missiles in Turkey. It’s truly another escalation of this conflict.

It’s a very dangerous situation because the Russian government is involved in trying to stabilize the situation and bring about some type of political solution. But the US, Israel and its allies are definitely committed to bring about regime change in Syria.

Of course, this is something that the entire international community should be very much concerned about bringing about a political solution.

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Pan-African News Wire

The Pan-African News Wire is an international electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. The press agency was founded in January of 1998 and has published thousands of articles and dispatches in newspapers, magazines, journals, research reports, blogs and websites throughout the world.
The PANW represents the only daily international news source on pan-african and global affairs.
PANW editor Abayomi Azikiwe is often solicited by various newspaper, radio and television stations for comment and analysis on local, national and world affairs. He serves as a political analyst for Press TV and RT worldwide satellite television news networks as well as other international media in the areas of African and world affairs. He has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including Al Jazeera, CCTV, BBC, NPR, Radio Netherlands, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, South Africa Radio 786, Belgian Pirate Radio, TVC Nigeria and others.